The Future of Media

I’ve come up with seven ideas on how I think the future of media will turn out. I shot a video, and I invite you to participate further by creating your own ideas and potentially linking back to this post at http://chrisbrogan.com/futureofmedia. You might see it differently, and/or you might want some extrapolation on my points. That’s why we’re here. Let’s talk about the future and see what we think is coming out. I shot this video to go with the story:

Media Will Be Multi Touch

By this, I mean to say that we will have text, video, audio, games, and several other interaction types as part of media. It will almost never be a standalone kind of product any more. Magazines won’t just be in print. Everything will blend between the visual and the textual and back again. I think that this already shows in things like Richard Branson’s Project magazine, or Wired, and there are more and more examples of this coming every day. By “multi-touch,” I mean that we’ll have multiple touchpoints from which to consume this.

Media Will Be Mobile

We already consume more and more from our mobile device, but the way we create media right now is still primarily as if we’re imagining a laptop. We’re going to move into making media that is primarily consumed by mobile devices (phones, iPads, and several other in-between sized devices). This means that bandwidth will become an issue, that we’ll have to think about different ways to package information, and that we’ll have to think about the various ways that information will be used in different physical contexts as well as by different people.

Media Will Be Serial

Because media will be mobile and have multiple touchpoints, I believe media will be serial. We’re already seeing “first news” and “full news” when something happens. Breaking news is often made up of uncorroborated information, and we’ll see this trend expand even more out onto an edge.

Media Will Be Two-Way

We’ll rely on people to help tell the stories with us. It will be a conversation (even more so than the cliche is used today).

Media Will Be Rich Data Minded

It won’t be static data. We’ll have stories, fiction and otherwise, that pull elements from the world around us. I got this idea from Liza Daly, a smart person I met on a train ride recently.

Media Will Be Subscription-Based

I think we won’t buy a book, but instead, a subscription to a book, such that it updates and that parts change over time. I think that we’ll have relationships via “books as a platform” instead of just dead tree experiences.

Media Will Be Faster With Longer Burn

We’ll have a lot more connection with media hitting us the moment something happens, but then it’ll have a longer time line to getting completely explained.

What’s Your Take?

How do you see media changing over time?

Chris Brogan

CEO of Owner Media Group

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